Did European Labor Markets Become More Competitive in the 1990s? : Evidence from Estimated Worker Rents

This paper analyses the evolution of quantitative measures of employee rents in Europe during the nineties, using the European Household Panel Survey. One looks at two class of measures: wage differentials between workers along industry and firm size dimensions, and estimated welfare differences between employed and unemployed using a model of labor market transitions. The results are largely negative; there is robust evidence of falling rents during that period only in Ireland.